Traditionally, businesses have deposited checks received from, for example, customers by physically taking them to a branch of their bank and depositing them over the counter with a teller or dropping them into a night deposit box. The actual physical presentation of checks to be deposited was necessary because, under prior banking laws, the depository bank had to present the original of each check to the corresponding paying bank in order to clear the check. This changed in October of 2004 with the enactment of The Check Clearing for the 21st Century Act, commonly referred to Check 21. Check 21 removed the legal requirement that an original paper check had to be presented to obtain payment. Instead, banks can now use digital images to transport check data from the bank of first deposit to the paying bank. If the paying bank cannot process a check image, the image can be printed, according to certain specifications, to create what is known as a substitute check, which is the legal equivalent of the original paper check. Check 21 has thus opened the door for remote check deposit solutions wherein check images, rather than original paper checks, are used to make deposits, thereby enabling businesses to eliminate trips to the bank. In addition, the use of check images also reduces check transportation costs among banks and improves funds availability.
For obvious reasons, such as to prevent fraud, it is important to be able to authenticate check images at various points in the banking system. One helpful indicator of check authenticity is the presence of perforations on an edge of the check. The presence of perforations is an indication that a check was likely removed from a checkbook issued by a bank, and is therefore likely authentic. Thus, the ability to detect perforations on an image of a check would be advantageous for banking systems, as the presence of perforations suggests that the image is an image of an authentic check, as opposed to an image created from a copy of a check, which could be fraudulent. Thus, there is a need for a method for detecting the presence of perforations in an image of a check in order to assist in the authentication of check images.